New Opportunities – New Requirements
The evolution of everyday products into intelligent connected devices provides a significant opportunity for mobile network operators. The estimates on the predicted number of connected things varies between analysts, but everyone agrees there is a rapidly increasing number of devices connected on cellular networks. Analysts believe that the number of intelligent connected devices will eventually surpass the number of personal mobile subscriptions.
To capitalize on the Internet of Things (IoT) opportunity, Mobile Network Operators and Service Providers must meet the requirements driven by these new products and applications. To reach the IoT segment, you must offer more than just tweaked consumer subscriptions, as IoT customers have very specific needs:
- Customers must be able to react to different context changes of their subscriptions in real time.
- Subscription control must be possible to automate to offer instant control, for example if a single connection suddenly increases its traffic.
- Customers must be able to conveniently manage thousands to millions of SIMs.
- Connectivity pricing needs to be tailored to match the IoT value proposition.
- SIM management must be very efficient to compensate for the lower ARPU per SIM in IoT applications.
All the above creates the need for a specific platform to manage IoT subscriptions, one that meets current customer needs and that can evolve in parallel with the IoT market. A dedicated platform is preferred over adapting existing platforms built to manage consumer subscriptions due to adaptations generally being difficult, costly and hurting the stability of the systems that your existing business is based on.
Benefits of Cogo Networks IoT Platform
Cogo Networks IoT Platform is conceived, designed and developed considering all the challenges inherent in the control and management of millions of devices without human interaction. Cogo Networks IoT Platform functionalities enable IoT-oriented initiatives launched by MNOs and Service Providers to provide thorough control of every subscription, in every instant and every context, providing MNOs and Service Providers all the necessary tools to design the products and services their customers demand in a cost-effective way, maximizing revenue and customer satisfaction.
- Customer Structure is configurable to adapt to every IoT application imaginable.
- SIM management is built for handling many connections per customer in an efficient manner.
- Charging, Rating and Pricing are highly flexible to let you adapt your services to market needs rather than platform limitations.
- Real Time control and integrated Policy management enables a high degree of automation, offering you and your customers to control every connection with a high level of efficiency.
Strong platform capabilities
Cogo Networks has for many years successfully provided technology that helps mobile operators launch flexible products and services for consumers and wholesale businesses. This includes solutions for MVNO management, retail management, business assurance and network connectivity.
Cogo Networks expertise in the mobile virtual network space has been an important foundation for the development of Cogo Networks IoT Platform. The platform can cater to all IoT verticals with different usage patterns, building on capabilities that are also central to customers in the MVNO space:
- Highly automated provisioning and subscription management.
- Real-time control for rating, charging, billing and policy control.
- Operation that scales with the growing traffic from an increasing number of connected devices.
Offering these capabilities in the MVNO market has enabled the creation of a flexible and robust IoT solution, one that provides you and your customers with detailed information in real time to successfully exploit the IoT business opportunity and maximize the value created.
IoT Connectivity
Establishing the actual connectivity between devices and enterprise IoT solutions is central for the Internet of Things value proposition. Mobile data connectivity is the basis for vast majority of IoT applications but SMS and voice services are also successfully used to complement coverage and to wake up a device and establish data connectivity.
Cogo Networks can also, provide operator connectivity through its direct mobile operator relationships. Cogo Networks IoT Connectivity service is designed to provide high quality connectivity for a wide variety of enterprise services. For a mobile operator, there are strong complementary benefits to work with a trusted connectivity partner to strengthen its IoT market offer by extending geographic coverage.
